Fresh off playing a singer in Stagger Lee at Dallas Theater Center, Denise Lee is planning a singing engagement as part of a new collaboration between her company, Denise Lee Onstage, and Fair Park. She’ll perform her cabaret show, The Divas of American Music, at Women’s Museum at Fair Park Feb. 26, and will produce monthly cabaret at the site that’s free to the public.

Lee, a versatile, award-winning actress who was named the 2013 Sammons Center Cabaret Artist of Year, has performed two shows at the Sammons Cabaret Series, Hamon Hall at the Winspear Opera House, the Uptown Theater in Grand Prairire and the Bridge Bistro as well as in clubs in China, Switzerland and France.

The program marks a comeback for the Women’s Museum, which closed in 2011, but will also be hosting The Reserve Tasting, part of Dallas Morning News’ Savor Dallas, on March 21, with entertainment, food, wine and cocktails.

Families at a sensory-friendly performance at Dallas Children's Theater

Dallas Children’s Theater’s new sensory-friendly performance initiative, already a hit with families with special needs, will be expanded, thanks to the Crystal Charity Ball.

The charitable organization has selected DCT as a 2015 beneficiary of $564,400 so that the theater can more than double the number of sensory-friendly performances over the three-year period of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons. The money will also be used to purchase equipment that will improve the experience and to fund classes designed for children with developmental challenges

The theater plans to mount a performance that will include children with developmental challenges alongside children who are developing typically in the 2018-2019 season.

DCT launched its sensory-friendly performance initiative last year to better serve the more than 100,000 children with developmental disabilities, including autism, and their families. Sensory friendly performances are designed to make public places more welcoming to children sensitive to bright lights, darkness and loud noises. DCT built its program with assistance from Autism Speaks, The Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities University of Texas Southwestern and Children’s Health Centers; the Neuropsychology Service of Children’s Health Dallas; and The University of North Texas, including the Kristin Farmer Autism Center.

DCT’s next sensory-friendly performance will be for Skippyjon Jones Saturday. Sensory-friendly performances of the upcoming Balloonacy and The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley are also planned for the current season. The grant will help DCT expand to an offering of seven sensory-friendly performances in the 2016-2017 season.

Saturday at 4:30 p.m. for sensory-friendly performance of Skippyjon Jones for kids with special needs at Rosewood Center for Family Arts, 5938 Skillman St., Dallas. $10. 214-740-0051. dct.org.

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You can take another bite of Lyric Stage’s sumptous The Golden Apple in a recording of the 1954 Jerome Moross and John Latouche musical culled from the last four performances of the October production at Irving Arts Center in Irving.

PS Classics co-founder Tommy Krasker worked with Moross’s daughter, Susanna Moross Tarjan, as executive producer on the project. It will be released May 19 and is available for pre-order at psclassics.com.

The two-disc, 135-minute set marks the first time the score has been recorded in its entirety, including 90 minutes of previously unrecorded song. The Lyric Stage show featured an orchestra of 38 and a 43-member cast, including Christopher J. Deaton, Kristen Lassiter, Danielle Estes, Deborah Brown and Andy Baldwin, directed by Stefan Novinski with music direction by conductor Jay Dias.

PS Classics has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards for its cast albums of Assassins, Nine: The Musical, Grey Gardens, Company, A Little Night Music, Sondheim on Sondheim,Follies and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

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Marty Van Kleeck (left), who directed Gene Raye Price (right) at Theatre Three in 'Shear Madness' last year, has returned to manage Bath House Cultural Center, where she will direct Price in 'The Lady With All the Answers' in March.

Marty Van Kleeck, managing director of Theatre Three since January 2014, left the theater as of Dec. 12 to return as managing director of the Bath House Cultural Center, which is operated by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.

Van Kleeck had served as manager of the Bath House Cultural Center before taking on the position at Theatre Three and continued to co-manage One Thirty Productions at Bath House, with Theatre Three’s support. The announcement was made Thursday, Feb. 19, by Theatre Three.

She will continue as an artistic advisor, says Jac Alder, founding producer/director of Theatre Three.

Van Kleeck helped re-energize the company’s second space, Theatre Too, with Shear Madness for Theatre Three last year. She performed in Candy Barr’s Last Dance last year and directed Tru, which ran through Feb. 1, both on the company’s mainstage. Alder is discussing her direction of upcoming projects, he says.

“We are wonderfully sympatico and that’s not going to go away. What we will be looking for is someone to replace her duties in fundraising and general management, that were formally part of her multi-faceted job,” Alder says.

Van Kleeck, a co-founder of One Thirty Productions, a theater aimed at seniors at Bath House Cultural Center, is currently directing a show, The Lady with all the Answers, a one-woman show about advice columnist Ann Landers, that will open March 4 at Bath House Cultural Center. Gene Raye Price, one of the Shear Madness ensemble as well as one of the One Thirty Productions co-founders, will star.

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Maranda Harrison wears her great-grandmother’s wedding ring, which dates back to the 1920s, as Blanche Tate, Sweetheart of the Lake, in The Echo Room Presents ‘Her Song’ at Bath House Cultural Center.

It brings back memories that help her step back in time as the company recreates the atmosphere of a 1930s supper club.

“We called her MaSurie,” Harrison says of her grandmother, Emma Preuinger, who was born in 1905 in Salona, Texas.

“She loved to cook, bake and have her garden. She was known for her homemade bread and cinnamon rolls. That has passed down through my grandmother, mother and now me… especially the love for baking.”

Lorena Davey, who plays Famed Spanish Soprano Maria Galvany, has that same time-traveling feeling when she wears her grandmother’s crystal, irridescent necklace and earrings with a turquoise dress in the show’s first number.

Her grandmother, Norma Lee Guyon, who was born in the 1920s in Gainesville, was a “wonderful singer and dancer,” not unlike the woman Davey plays in the show, she says.

It never hurts to have a little extra brainpower. This week it was supplied by Jacob Segoviano and Alison Borish, two of the teens from Teen Brain: The Musical, who loaned us the brain atop Jacob’s head for a cerebral twist to the list of shows I’m most looking forward to seeing this week and that I think you will, too.

Check out the video to see why the brain chose The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, starring Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac at the Eisemann Center; Once at Bass Hall; Mississippi G’damn at South Dallas Cultural Center; Miss Evers’ Boys from African American Repertory Theatre at KD Studio Theatre and Teen Brain: The Musical at Dallas Children’s Theater.

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Firehouse Theatre and Teatro Dallas are both offering special discounts for Valentine’s Day. Firehouse Theatre, which is presenting The Drowsy Chaperone through March 1, is offering a two for one ticket for the Feb. 14 matinee at 2:30 p.m. To get the deal, call the box office at 972-620-3747 and give them the password “Matinee Love.”

Teatro Dallas, which is ending its run of El Circo Qu Llego De Marte (The Circus That Came From Mars) Sunday, is offering a special price of $30 per couple and $25 per student or senior couple for its Feb. 14 show.

There was a Valentine’s Day deal for the Feb 14 performance of Sexy Laundry at WaterTower Theatre, but the show is sold out through the end of its run on Feb. 22.

Tommy Noel, a multimedia journalist with the Dallas Morning News, is Mormon. He joined DMN theater critic Nancy Churnin for the opening night performance of The Book of Mormon and wrote this review from a Mormon perspective:

Shhhhh. Can you keep a secret? Please don’t tell my conservative Mormon friends that I saw The Book of Mormon on opening night at the Winspear Opera House. Harsh judgment and dirty looks will likely be tossed my way. And while we’re at it, please don’t tell them that I LOVED The Book of Mormon. (Again, we’re talking about the musical and not the actual book.)

I took this assignment very seriously. I showed up early with the intent of observing others who were about to laugh (along with me) at my religion. While sipping on a Diet Dr Pepper, (Mormons can’t drink coffee or alcohol, but caffeinated sodas are OK) I overheard a gentleman say something about “John Smith.” I went into Mormon mode and was ready to correct him: “Excuse me. It’s JOSEPH Smith.” But realized that it would have been wasted breath, plus nobody likes a know-it-all.

I sat next to theater critic Nancy Churnin who offered to cover my eyes during the raunchier musical numbers. Several co-workers and friends suggested I NOT see “Book of Mormon” for fear I would be offended. I guess I don’t come across as open-minded and easy-going, because I really am, and had no issues in seeing the R-rated musical. (Like coffee and beer, R-rated movies are a no-no.)

When the show started, I immediately had flashbacks and reflected on my upbringing in the Mormon religion (A.K.A. LDS Church or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) Baptized at 8. Early morning scripture classes through high school. Two-year mission to Northern Spain. I got to relive those moments in a humorous sort of way. When the two Elders said goodbye to their families at the airport, I remember that farewell moment like it was yesterday. (Missionaries drop their first name and go by the title of ‘Elder.’ I was Elder Noel for two years in Spain. This made it very difficult during the Holidays as Santa Claus there is “Papa Noel.”)

During one scene, ten missionaries are on stage singing and dancing in their white short-sleeved shirts and ties. More flashbacks. (Not the singing and dancing part, but the apparel and clean-cut, innocent appearance.) I went through 11 missionary companions in a 24-month span, all with varying personalities and traits like those seen in the musical.

When the Elders in “Book of Mormon” knock on doors in Uganda, I am reminded of knocking on doors in Pamplona, Spain, always curious as to who would be on the other side. (99% of the time, they were Catholic.) Lots of reminiscing and reflection.

And laughing. I laughed a lot. When I should have been offended, I still laughed. I kept reminding myself that I’m probably laughing for a different reason than Nancy and the majority of the audience. I GOT the puns and silly undertones.

I also laughed at some of the audience’s laughter. (Is this getting confusing?)

During the song “I Believe” the audience laughed at things perceived as comedy, which were actually true, causing me to chuckle.

“…the garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri.” (audience laughter) Yep, that too.

“…God lives on a planet called Kolob.” (audience laughter) Well, you get the picture.

I know of many Mormons who would feel uncomfortable in seeing this. (Even though all religions and faith are mocked.) But sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. I did plenty of that during both acts. The LDS Church obviously doesn’t ‘hate’ the musical, as three full-page ads are strategically placed in the program inviting you to read the real Book of Mormon. The book is free, by the way.

While I was never offended or upset for the entire duration, I had one cringe-worthy moment. (And it had nothing to do with the simulated sex acts on stage.) One of the songs, “Turn It Off” is sung by the missionaries who are told to “like a light switch” turn off the confusing doubts and thoughts or problems of being a Mormon. I cringed because this is quite common. I’ve witnessed people who had to “turn it off” and I myself had to “just go click,” when “feeling certain feels that just don’t feel right.” This was my hit-close-to-home moment. But I ‘turned it off’ and laughed along just like everybody else.

And on that note, 14 years after returning home from my LDS mission, I, like the missionaries in the musical, have doubts and issues with the LDS church, which is why I’m not as gung-ho with Mormonism as I used to be. But I still admire the message of faith sprinkled throughout the entire show. At one point, Uganda native Nabulungi says she’s “never seen people so happy,” in describing her neighbors once the Mormon missionaries showed up. This was my goosebumps moment. Through the difficulties of my mission, it was worth it seeing people change and become happy through faith to a Supreme Being.

I left The Book of Mormon with a huge smile on my face. And Nancy was relieved she never had to cover my eyes. I’d see it again and again – but again, let’s keep that our little secret.

Scott Waara, who plays Da in the national tour of Once, has fond memories of his days at Southern Methodist University, where he and his classmates enjoyed the Snuffers that has, alas, since closed on lower Greenville. I caught up with Scott, who won a Tony Award for Most Happy Fella in 1992, for an email Q and A in between his stops in Dallas, where he performed at Winspear Opera House in December and Fort Worth, where the show opens Wednesday at Bass Hall.

What made you want to do Once?

I didn’t see the movie until about a year after it came out, though I’d had several friends recommend it to me. When I did see it, I was moved and thrilled by it. Subsequently, I had many people tell me they thought the stage version was, if possible, even better. I think the story is so beautiful and captures so much that is true about creativity, love, and overcoming fear.

How did you get the part of Da?

I was asked to put myself on tape for it by the NY casting people, who, though I’d been in LA for many years, were aware of my musician side from previous projects I’d done. Early last year I taped the scenes they sent me and sang a couple of songs, then didn’t hear anything for six months. Unexpectedly, I got a call asking my interest for the tour, and I was thrilled to receive an offer. Best job I’ve ever gotten from a taped audition!

What did you draw on to play Da? Was your own father as understanding and supportive as your character when you decided to go into theater?

My dad is 93, and I think of him every day, every time I do the play. He is incredibly supportive of me and was able to travel to see the show a few weeks after I went into it last fall. In the play, there is a degree to which Da doesn’t quite know what to do with his musician son, and yet his love is deep and apparent. I’m sure there are parallels of that dynamic in the relationship I had with my dad growing up. It’s very sweet to still have him with me this deep into my adulthood!

Everyone in this show has to be a skilled musician in addition to a singer, actor and dancer. What instrument or instruments do you play and how long have you played? How do you like playing music in the show?

In the show I play mandolin and a little banjo in the pre-show. I’ve played guitar and since I was eleven, and consider that my primary instrument, though I’ve played other instruments for many years. Most guitarists who’ve been around a bit can manage to make a pleasing noise on any instrument with strings (and frets!). I absolutely love the integration of musician and actor and have been lucky enough to do this in a number of shows. Of those, in my opinion Once is a complete triumph in seamlessly integrating those elements in an honest, funny, and musically inspiring way.

What’s it like to play in the pre-show when the audience gets on the stage with you and the other musicians?

Very fun for us to get to sing to each other in a circle. It’s music making at a very basic level, getting to look at each other and listen. I think it’s a treat for people also, who get to lean in to this little tribe of musicians. Audiences are full of smiles, and yes, sometimes, beer.

What are your favorite memories of going to Southern Methodist University? Have you kept up with friends from those years? What was the most valuable thing you learned that helped you in your acting career?

So many. It was college, I was away from home for the first time and it was great adventure. I was just figuring out who I was, and that I might actually be able to make a living as an actor. I also had a profound Christian conversion experience during those years that resonates to this day. I have kept up with several friends from that time, though we do not get to see each other as often as we’d all like. When we were in Dallas in December, several of my dear friends and I got together at Snuffers on lower Greenville. I lived off campus near there my last two years in school and remember when it first opened. It was one of our regular hangouts, and I know there’s a new building there now, but gosh it was fun to be with those french fry- friends again. : )

Is there anything you’re particularly looking forward to doing while you’re in Texas?

Love to get some golf in, if it’s warm enough!

How did it feel to win the Tony and the Drama Desk Awards for The Most Happy Fella? Did it change your life in any way?

Very exciting, very humbling. Kind of a culmination of the ten plus years I’d been in NY. It takes a lot of good fortune to be awarded for ones work in that way, and it was a great honor. In the short term it opened some doors, but over the long hall there are so many ups and downs in a career in the arts it just becomes kind of a fun part of stories I get to tell.

You’ve done television, film and theater. What do you like best? Any projects planned after Once?

It’s all fun, and in different ways. Theatre is obviously much more immediate, but on camera work has an intimacy that’s fun as well. I’ve never had the same kind of success in TV and film that I’ve had in theater, but I love it just as much. I think I was a bit intimidated by the camera as a young actor, and it took me a while to get to be a good on film. I hope there are some roles left for an older, not famous guy down the road.

Where are you based now? Do you have any keepsakes that remind you of home on the road?

I’ve lived in Malibu, CA for more than twenty years, and love it there. On the road my main travel comforts are the musical instruments I bring and laptop-based recording equipment.

Do you have a favorite moment in the show — one that you particularly look forward to each performance?

There are lots of moments I love, but I’d rather not say as I don’t want to be self-conscious about them, of make the other actors self-conscious. Doing a play eight times a week and keeping it fresh is an exercise in forgetful concentration. You know what’s coming, but you have to willfully surrender familiarity and choose to discover it new every night. No one does that perfectly, but you do your best.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Just that even though I wasn’t in the original company, even the original tour company, I’m as proud of this show as practically any I’ve ever done. Our Guy and Girl, Stuart Ward and Dani de Waal, are both extraordinary performers and musicians. I’ve never seen them take a night off or be anything less than fully committed and alive, and I’m onstage watching them the entire show, as most of us are. The rest of our cast is wonderful as well, but so much rests on our leads that I just have to call out the wonderful work they do every single night.